Haha... I really need to update my other stories, but I can't resist the plot bunnies.
I don't know Hetalia...
Prologue
"Jialong! You will not be enrolling in the army!" An angry shout came from the older sibling, her black hair whipping up as she slammed her hands onto the desk, sending papers scattering.
"Yao!" A shout came back from the shorter boy, his thick eyebrows furrowing together in an angry scowl, standing up to glare back at Yao. "I can do what I want! You can't tell me what I can do or can't do!" He voice was by no mean any quieter, and it echoed throughout the ancient house. "No wonder all the others left you-" He cut himself off mid-sentence, horror evident on his face.
Yao's sudden silence settled in the courtyard, and she slumped back in the wooden chair. "Jialong," she said quietly. "I'm sorry.I just don't want to lose you like the others-" Her voice cackled, and she covered her face with her hands. She took a long, shuddering breath. "I can't," she continued on hoarsely, "to lose you too. Not after Yong Soo, Mei, and he left." She shifted her back unconsciously, still aware of the scar he had given her.
Jialong stayed silent. He remembered how the others had left; Kiku, Mei, and then Yong Soo. Kiku had felt it was necessary to serve his country, as he had sent most of his childhood there, brushing off the years he spent in China as if it was no more than a nuisance. Mei had left after Kiku, if she wouldn't be able to bear this household after Kiku had left. Yong Soo went last, not even leaving a word.
Yao had picked them up when they were orphans, bringing them up even if she was only a few years older. How she had struggled through the times of famine and disease with all four of them clinging onto her was a mystery to Jialong, but he knew she had suffered more than she let on.
"I know." Jialong said quietly, his voice no more than a whisper. "But I wanted to support my country in times of war, and I felt like joining the army was the best way to do it. And I've already signed up." He felt like he wanted to sink into the ground as he said the last sentence, afraid of the grief that Yao would be going through.
She didn't reply, and she barely spoke to him as the rest of the week passed.
And on the day of that Jialong would officially be considered a member of the military, he woke up with a bludgeoning headache and a tear-stained note on his nightstand.
I'm sorry.
In the distance, the last rumbles of the military trucks faded away.